*Reporting from Sydney*
Kings Cross – known for seedy nightclubs, drunken chaos, late night kebabs, strip joints and arrogant bouncers. While all these factors would steer one away from such a place, the same words can be used to describe most raging streets on a Friday or Saturday night. But not all streets have the alcohol restrictions that have been imposed on the Cross and other popular Sydney nightspots since February.
The new laws were brought in by a government trying to limit the damage after the shocking deaths of Daniel Christie and Thomas Kelly. In attempting to decrease the mayhem and madness that is supposedly fuelled by alcohol, fresh deadlines and rules were installed.
- No alcohol sold after 10pm that can be taken away (bottle shops).
- Lockouts everywhere strictly at 1:30am with no entry under any circumstance.
- All venues cutting service (last drinks) at 3am.
- Limits on ‘per person’ drink sales.
- RSA professionals scouting the enforcements.
If everyone is forced to leave at 3am, doesn’t that instil immediate anarchy the moment the clubs force patrons out?
Rather than filter out at random intervals until morning, everyone leaves every club at the same time, angered by the end of the fun, looking for another way to satisfy the drunken state. You can’t force people into their front doors, not when there are thousands.
It heightens the chance of mass violence. What would happen if such people discovered these RSA scouts during the halting of service?
And then there’s the belief that the aggression is all about the liquid, as opposed to the pills, powders and shards. If there is absolutely zero possibility of scoring a beer between 3am and whenever the bottle shop opens, what will the party generation of today turn to?
Yet there isn’t zero possibility. Not when the alcoholic black market arrives. Men with portable stalls of potency, aware they own the provision, the price and the people. There isn’t a product or service in the world that can’t be acquired.
Or how about the gangs? Posters are up on most licensed premises with the words ‘no colours’. These gangs will be well aware of the 3am hordes, and they’ll be on the streets. As will the degenerates, the homeless, the dangerous and the bored. So you’d hope police are patrolling every inch of land, as when young people (especially females) pile out in droves they’ll need all the protection they can get.
I don’t condone the behaviour created by clubs that open at sunset and close at sunrise. But taking away service at a certain time doesn’t enhance positivity or safety within minds that are already set on a course of action.
Some shop owners closed down because of the new laws.
One nightclub owner believes the innocent are being punished.
“I think we should approach it like drink driving,” he said.
“We didn’t curfew the roads and shut down the petrol stations, we dealt with the problem by punishing the offenders.”
There is also the view that people will spread out to the areas not affected by the new laws, creating fear for locals in generally peaceful suburbs.
The truth stands that we won’t know the statistics until a year passes and the professionals begin to assess the results. Even then, it may not illuminate anything worthy of worry. But the longer these laws remain, the longer people wanting to make a profit will increase their personal methods of service.
Change is always a tricky concept. Sometimes it can quell the issue. Sometimes it can spark the fire that burns everything down.
Chris Sutton
